Watch-case center



(No Model.)

J. G. DUEBER.

WATCH CASE GENTER. N0..290,869. Patented Dec. 25, 1883.

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JOHN G. DUEBER, OF NEWPORT, KENTUCKY.

WATCH-CASE CENTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 290,869, dated December 25, 1883.

Application filed September 26, 1883. (X0 model.)

T0 at whom it iii/my concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN 0. Domains, of Newport, Campbell county, Kentucky, have invented a new and useful VVatch-Gase Cen' ter, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a construction of the ring-formed middle member of a watch case, technically known as the center, and is more particularly designed to facilitate and perfect the manufacture of those watch-case centers that are formed out of rolled gold plate, (sheet-brass, gold-plated on one side.)

In the customary mode of forming such centers by pressing ant spinning fron1a"hoop of the plated material, very many pieces are (evenin the handsof the hi h-paid artisans usually employed on this work) rendered unfit for making up into cases, in consequence of the rupture of the thin lamina of gold at the sharp salient angles required to enable the backs, caps, and bezels to snap snugly upon the center. The dies thus employed are difficult to make and correspondingly costly. This loss and damage I avoid by first stamping out of the rolled plate two annular parts whose meeting edges are coincident with the middle plane or equator of the watch-case, and are adapted to be screwed and afterward burnished and locked together. Centers thus manufactured can be more perfectly and accurately finished, even by inferior workmen, at a great saving of material and wages.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents an ordinary blank of rolled gold plate. Figs. 2 and 3 represent annular pieces stamped out from such blanks. Fig. 4: represents by longitudinal section such a piece about to be subjected to the second operation in a suitable die. Figs. 5 and 6 represent two annular pieces (for the front and rear halves of the center, respectively) thus produced. Fig. 7 represents bylongitudinal section such a piece about to be subjected to the third operation in a suitable die. Fig. 8 is atop view of lower member of said die. Fig. 9 is a side view of the male or front and partly side and partly sectional View of the rear annular piece, and Fig. 10 is an interior perspective View of the female annular piece as it appears after the desired screw threads have been formed upon the overlapping lips. Figs. 11

and 12 are respectively an equatorial and an axial section of a finished center constructed on my plan.

of another die, Fig. 7, pressed into a form in which the snaps become acutely angular, as shown in Figs. 9 and 12. The lips of the an nular pieces are then screw threaded, the male piece on the outside, as shown at a, and the female piece on the inside. as shown at b.

The two annular pieces are then screwed tightly together, and, if desired, burnished on one or both sides of the joint, so as to close said joint and render it invisible; or the same effect may be produced by knurliug, engraving, or otherwise ornamenting. Finally, either pendant-bearing D or hinge-bearing Id, being soldered in place, operate (one or both) to hermetically lock the two parts together.

Soldering or brazing may also be applied over the joint on the center's concave inner surface when desired.

In another application of even date herewith I have described and claimed another means for connecting the two parts of a center, in which the lips are spun together, and se cured from turning one within the other by a locking-piece.

I claim 1. A watclrcasc center consisting of two annular parts or zones. each part having alip, one lip being fitted within the other.

2. A watch-case center consisting of two parts, each part having a lip, one lip having a female screw-thread, the other lip having a male screw-thread to fit the female screw thread.

parts having their lips fitting one within the other, and a pendant locking the parts together.

In testimony of which invention I hereunto set my hand.

JOHN C. DI' EBEIZ.

Attest:

G130. H. Knrcirr, X. ROCKHOLD.

. 0. A watch-case center consisting or two/ 

